


As the Sea Wears Down the Stone

by okayokayigive



Series: And So I Leave You [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-17
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-26 21:25:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/970460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okayokayigive/pseuds/okayokayigive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The final story in the <a href="http://www.whofic.com/series.php?seriesid=3797">And So I Leave You</a> 'verse, we pick up where <a href="http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=50509">Maybe You'll Tarry for a While</a> left off. Donna's accident brings Rose and the Doctor together - will it be enough to heal the damage of the last six years?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the final story in the And So I Leave You ‘Verse (AKA my John Hughes ‘verse). **If you haven’t read the previous stories, this won’t make sense.** Missed those? Catch up [here](http://archiveofourown.org/series/45548).
> 
> This hits my “character in distress” square for round 2 of Trope Bingo.
> 
> Many thanks and much love to [Ashley](http://helplesslynerdy.tumblr.com) for her patient, if sometimes delirious, beta services. To quote my brilliant beta: “you know, this fic isn’t quite like drinking Watson’s mustache, but it’s pretty damn close.”
> 
> Drop the mic, Ashley. DROP THE MIC.
> 
> \--
> 
> The title comes from Seanan McGuire's "The Snow Queen Dreams":  
>  _And she dreams of winter roses, fields of more than frozen snow / And he dreams of summer blizzards, fields where arctic apples grow / And they each dream of the other and they each dream on their own / And the days wear down the seasons, as the sea wears down the stone / And they dream forever autumn as the first frost comes to call / And the jack-o-lanterns flicker through the candied light of fall / And the summer and the winter can go walking hand in hand / And a queen can be a woman, and a king is just a man_

The Doctor smoothed his hand over Eoghan’s hair and sighed softly as he rose from the sleeping boy’s bedside. As he turned toward the door, he caught a glimpse of Rose in the hallway, propped against the wall with her chin to her chest. He padded into the hallway, pulling the door mostly closed behind him.

"Leigh’s settled, then?"

Rose jumped, as if she wasn’t expecting the intrusion. “Yeah, Yeah. For now, at least. They never sleep long at this age. Or, well, so I’ve heard. And Eoghan?”

"Finally out. Took him a while to nod off - he’s understandably shaken.

Rose just nodded.

"I’m going to go find myself a drink. Will you join me? I think we should talk. You know, about the kids. What we’re going to do. Not…not anything else. Just…the kids." He turned for the stairs without waiting for her response.

—

Rose drifted down the stairs, feeling a little better after washing the tear tracks and exhaustion from her face, but she was still in a daze. The Doctor’s muffled voice drifted up the stairwell. “Yes. Yes, thank you. We’ll be in touch.” The image in her mind’s eye of him scrubbing his hand over his face as he let out a deflated sigh was like a punch to the gut - so many moments they’d shared. So many moments they’d lost.

But right here, right now, this wasn’t about them. This was about Eoghan and Leigh and Donna. Oh, Donna…

_Witnesses said that she’d been crossing the street, cooing to Leigh, when the out-of-control car ran the red light. Ever-watchful, especially with the kids around, she clearly saw the car coming toward her. With reflexes quick as lightning, Donna pushed the pram out of the way seconds before impact._

_After what they’d gone through with Lee, Donna had made certain that Eoghan and Leigh had family to turn to if anything happened to her - and that included having emergency contact information on file at the hospital. Rose was their first call._

_She’d arrived at the hospital in a tizzy, tugging Eoghan behind her, sweeping Leigh out of the arms of the hospital staff assigned to care for her and holding her tight. This was never supposed to happen. Not to Donna, not to anyone._

_Rose reluctantly relinquished the kids to Jackie’s care - thank goodness for her mum’s recent hospital job - and stood blankly by Donna’s bedside, holding her hand and listening to the doctor. Words like “coma” and “brain damage” and “unknown” filtered through her ears, and she allowed herself a moment of terror and sorrow before righting herself and facing the task at hand. She’d promised Donna that she would take care of Eoghan and Leigh if anything happened, and there were two kids in the next room that needed her more than she needed tears right now. Of course, she wasn’t the only one who’d made that promise._

_Rose wiped her tears, thanked the doctor, and asked after Donna’s personal effects. There was a call she needed to make._

Rose was snapped out of her memories by a familiar voice and a hand on her shoulder. “Rose? You okay?”

She looked around and found herself sitting on a step in an unfamiliar hallway. Donna’s house. The Doctor’s voice. Right.

"I…I was thinking about Donna."

Her scrubbed the back of his neck before offering her a hand and pulling her to stand. “Yeah. Yeah, me too. C’mon. I put the kettle on, and I found us some whiskey. I think we could both use it, yeah?”

—

Rose sighed as she added whiskey and honey into her tea. “So…what are we going to do? I mean, the kids, obviously. There’s logistics there. We need to think about school schedules, and sleeping arrangements, and bedtimes, and hospital visits, and…”

He reached out a hand and gently laid it on her wrist to calm her. “Rose. Let’s just…one thing at a time, okay?” He let out a soft chuckle.

"What?"

"It’s just…you. Rambling like that. So much like…"

"So much like what?"

"So much like me."

Silence fell as they both regarded their tea.

"Was that the hospital, then?"

"Oh, yeah. No change. They still don’t know….well, anything, really. They say the first 48 hours are the most critical."

"Right."

"Doctor, should we…?" Rose trailed off, wanting to ask about the giant elephant in the room - their falling out, their not-a-relationship, all the things they were avoiding - but not wanting to be the cause of more strain on an already stressful day.

Catching her eye, he took a deep breath. Thinking. Considering. Longing.

She knew he’d decided to ignore it the moment he looked away.

Always running. That was her Doctor.

Except he wasn’t - not anymore.

"Right. Yes. We should talk. For the sake of the kids. So, I have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 to 3 - I’m a professor now, not sure if you knew that - and office hours on Wednesdays from 1-4. So I can handle school runs for Eoghan, and drop Leigh at the university daycare whenever needed…"

Any awkwardness was quickly overcome by logistics as they planned the days ahead: meals, laundry, dinner, play dates…they were both committed to keeping life as normal as possible for the little ones. And that included all of them staying at the house together.

"There’s not really a guest room, so we can both crash in Donna and Lee’s room - that way, we’ll both be close to the kids—"

The Doctor halted mid-sentence as he realized what he’d said. The relaxed banter of the last few minutes had led him to drop his guard - it was too much like the old days, before everything got…complicated, when they’d curl up together at the drop of a hat.

Rose sat frozen, not sure how to respond.

"Er…I mean, I’ll sleep on the couch, of course. That’s fine - I don’t sleep much anyway. You can…you can have the bed."

Embarrassed, he slunk off to the bathroom. Rose let her head slip down to bang on the table. “We can do this,” she mumbled to herself. “We can do this for the kids.”

—

_to be continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eoghan is quickly becoming my favorite character.

_The Doctor ran down the hospital corridors, sliding around corners and knocking against staff as he made his way toward Donna’s room. He slid to a stop as he saw Rose, tear tracks on her face and eyes red from crying, closing a door behind her. His first sight of her in almost six years had his heart and gut wrenching. His best friend, his beautiful Rose. How could he let them fall apart?_

_The beep of a monitor off to his right brought him out of his reverie at the same moment that Rose noticed his presence. They walked toward each other, meeting with a stiffness that belied their history._

_"How is she? What happened? Where are the kids?"_

_"They’re with my mum in the waiting room. Donna’s not good. Can we find somewhere to sit?_

_They found themselves a quiet corner and the story came spilling out - the red light, Donna’s heroic effort, the broken bones, the potential for brain damage, the unknown outcome._

_The Doctor wiped his tears and composed himself. “I think we should take the kids home. I mean, there’s nothing we can do here. I’m sure Leigh is fine - she’s too young to really understand - but Eoghan is probably terrified.”_

_Rose nodded in agreement and they headed down the hall._

—

Coffee. Box lunch. Diaper bag. Schedule coordination. Meetings. Classes. School drop-off. Everything robotic, everything with a pasted-on smile, everything with a “we love you and your mum’s going to be just fine”.

It was sad, and a little painful, how quickly they’d settled into a routine - a routine of domestic life he’d never thought he’d have. And now, according to the handy chart posted on the board in the kitchen, it was his turn to visit Donna.

And what kind of a life was this? With a woman he used to love, raising someone else’s kids. Worthy of a Shakespearean tragedy, he was.

But, as much as he loved his introspective time, it was Donna’s time now. He took a breath, steeled himself, and opened the door.

The pain in his chest caused by his vibrant, vivacious best friend laying splayed out pale under a series of wires and tubes never stopped - but it always exploded when he saw her anew. “Oh, Donna.”

He sat down in the ever-present chair at her bedside and began to do the one thing he knew he could do well: talk.

"It’s been three days now since your accident, and we miss you more every day. Leigh continues to surprise me - there’s more intelligence in those eyes than I ever expect to see in a baby, and I fear you’re in for a world of trouble there when she’s older." His voice began to falter as he realized that Donna may not see her children grow into the brilliant terrors he was certain they’d be.

Clearing his throat, he continued, “Eoghan is doing as well as can be expected. He’s very protective of Leigh - always has been, I know - and he asks about you in just about every sentence. Rose and I are staying at the house, of course. There have been awkward moments, for certain, but we’re doing what we need to do to move past it for the kids’ sake until you’re back up and bossing us all around again.

I know you complained about me being at the house so much in recent years, raiding your pantry and causing trouble, but I’m glad I did. It’s making this transition easier on Eoghan, at least. He’s wary of Rose, because he doesn’t really know her. Leigh, on the other hand, loves her. Won’t go to sleep without her. Is it wrong of me to be a little jealous of that? I miss having someone, I do. Not that I miss Jeannie - it’s nice to be free from that, honestly - but, well.

None of that matters, though. What matters is getting you better. I love you, Donna. Your Spaceman loves you. Come back to us, please.”

—

Eoghan bolted into the house, Rose on his heels, and ran into the kitchen where the Doctor was feeding Leigh and preparing a meal for the rest of them.

"Doctor! Doctor! I’m going to be in a play at school! I need a costume, though, and Rose says you can help! I need a velvet coat, and a scarf around my neck, and…"

"Whoa there, Eoghan! Congratulations. Go wash up for tea, and then you can tell me all about it."

When he was gone, the Doctor raised an eyebrow in Rose’s direction. “Costumes, eh?”

She grinned. “Well, you do have a history of wardrobe changes. Remember when you moved from that dark, moody, leather look to that swish pinstripe suit?”

Wiping squash from Leigh’s face, he turned with a smile. “I loved that suit. Jeannie _really_ loved that suit.”

At the mention of Jeannie’s name, Rose’s expression turned stony.

"Right. How is good old Jeannie? I’m surprised she’s not here helping with the kids. Or does that cut into her orchid-keeping schedule?"

"I…I don’t know. We split up, back before Lee died. Not because…not because of, you know. Us. Well, maybe a little bit because of us. Or a lot. She was okay with the sex part, but she had an issue with - how did she put it - ‘my attachment to you’. It didn’t help that I told her being with you was the best night of my life. Actually, come to think of it, that may have been the nail in that particular coffin. It started with the clothes, though. A bit clothing-obsessed, that one. You know, you’re the only person who’s ever really understood that I’m the same man no matter what."

Rose gaped, jaw hanging down to her chest, as the Doctor continued rambling.

"Technicolor, leather, velvet, cricket, pinstripes - it never mattered to you, Rose. We were always the Doctor and Rose - or Rose and the Doctor - no matter what. I miss that. I need that."

His jaw snapped shut, teeth clicking, as he realized what he’d said.

"I’m sorry. I…"

"I can’t believe you. In the midst of all this," she waved her hand around her, "you simultaneously tell me that I ruined your relationship and accuse me of somehow abandoning you. I thought that maybe in six years you’d have changed, grown up a bit. Clearly I was wrong. I don’t know if I can do this. Not with you." 

Rose grabbed Leigh from her highchair and hurriedly left the room, unknowingly brushing by Eoghan on her way.

It was his sniffle that focused the Doctor’s attention on the lower section of the doorway.

"She’s going to leave us, isn’t she? She’s going to leave, and you’re going to leave, and Mum’s going to die."

The Doctor dropped to his knees and swept the boy into his arms. “I’m sorry, Eoghan. I’m sorry that you had to see that.” He folded his legs underneath him and tugged Eoghan into his lap. “You know how sometimes you have arguments with your friends at school? Well, Rose and I had an argument. But it happened a long, long time ago - before you were even born. And instead of making up, like you do with your friends, we said goodbye. And maybe that wasn’t the right thing to do. But we’re here now, and we’re staying. We love you and your sister very much, and we’ll be here with you until your mum comes home. And she will come home, Eoghan, I promise. She will come home.”

He rocked Eoghan in his arms until the tears subsided and the young boy fell asleep. The Doctor carried him upstairs and settled him in his bed, then paused in the doorway of Leigh’s room. Rose sat rocking the baby, tears streaming down her face.

"Did you catch any of that?"

"Yeah. I feel terrible. We can’t do this, Doctor, not like this. We’re here for the kids, for better or for worse. We either need to get this all out on the table and deal with it, or agree to forgive and forget. But either way, we can’t do _this_. It’s not fair to them.”

"We’re in this together. We can do this. I know we can."

—

_to be continued…_ **  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna’s awake! And the Doctor and Rose are finally talking about what happened all those years ago. Also, have I mentioned that Eoghan is my favorite character in this story by far? Because YES YOU GO KID. Ahem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Recognizable dialogue is borrowed from the Ninth Doctor and When Harry Met Sally. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.)

They were between hospital shifts when it happened - the Doctor finishing his last class of the day and Rose picking Eoghan up from school. When the call came through, they rushed to the hospital en masse. After four long weeks, Donna was awake - and raising hell, from the sound of it.

The doctors and nurses were amazed by her clear head and vibrant spirit so soon after waking, but the Doctor and Rose and their little makeshift family were not surprised. After the requisite hugs and kisses and happy tears, the children tucked into her on either side and Donna turned to her friends. “Thank you. Thank you for everything.”

Before the atmosphere could turn overly emotional, Donna shifted gears. “So, the two of you appear to be in one piece - does that mean you’ve patched things up? Have you been snogging on my sofa? C’mon, Rose, Spaceman. Spill!”

Rose and the Doctor exchanged awkward glances before turning back to Donna. He tugged on his earlobe and prepared to launch into his typical babble with a “well….”

Rose held up a hand to stop him. “We’re fine, Donna. Just fine. Things were rocky, at first, but your little man set us straight.”

Eoghan took that moment to enquire, “Mum, is there any pudding? Dad always got pudding when he was in hospital.”

Donna laughed. “Why don’t you see if the Doctor will take you on a pudding search adventure?”

The adults exchanged knowing glances, and the Doctor lifted Eoghan up out of Donna’s bed and onto his shoulders. “Pudding it is! Let’s go, young sir - adventure awaits!”

They bounded out of the room, leaving smiles in their wake. “Peas in a pod, that one.”

"Terrifying, isn’t it? Don’t change the subject, though - what’s up with you and him? Shagging in my bed while the kids nap down the hall?"

Starting with the story of Eoghan’s breakdown in the kitchen, Rose launched into a recap of the last few weeks.

_After a surprisingly short amount of time - a few days, really - they’d settled into a comfortable routine. Whenever they got comfortable, though, something always happened to pull them out of the moment and remind them about the not-so-happy bits of their shared history. Eoghan’s fears snapped everything into sharp focus, though, and forced them to face their problems head on._

_That night, they’d opened a bottle of wine, settled in on opposite ends of the sofa, and talked - really talked - about what happened all those years ago. How Rose had been sick over what they’d done to Jeannie, how his casual approach to the affair made it worse. How afraid she’d been that he’d run away. How sorry she was that she turned her back on their friendship, that she’d left without looking back._

_Where Rose was soft, the Doctor was uncharacteristically open - and apologetic. He told her how happy he’d been to finally have the chance to love her, how his fear of losing her let his need to control all the variables - and his uncanny ability to say precisely the wrong thing - get out of hand. How he wanted to be the one having adventures with her, but never wanted to hold her back from having adventures of her own. How proud he was of her. How much he missed her. How very sorry he was that it all went wrong._

_"We had something good, Rose. Something special. And we’ve both been so, so stupid and we’ve both let it fall away. And it’s just…do you remember when we were kids? And we would go outside and spin and spin and spin in circles until we got dizzy? And then one day I read - because I was always reading, still do - but I read that the world is turning. And I told you, because we shared everything, I told you and we couldn’t believe it, not at all, because everything, from our point of view, was just standing still."_

_The Doctor turned, shifting toward Rose, as he continued. “But I could feel it. The turn of the earth. The ground spinning below our feet.” He looked down, breaking eye contact and taking a long, slow breath before glancing back up and taking her hand. “I can’t feel it any more, Rose. The two of us - we’re falling through space, clinging to the skin of this insignificant little planet, and I can’t feel it any more. I don’t want to feel it. Not without you. Friends or something more, I don’t want to lose you. Because without you? That’s who I am.”_

_Her hand thudded to the sofa as he released it suddenly._

_"That’s so like you, Doctor. You say things like that and you make it impossible for me to hate you."_

_He’d pulled her in for a hug and nestled her against his chest like they’d done when they were younger, when they were friends. The combination of the tears and the stress and the wine and the relief quickly had them nodding off, and they woke the next morning fully clothed and slightly embarrassed._

"He broke into that soft smile of his, though, and I knew everything was going to be okay. Until, of course, I realized what time it was, and that we were running late! Life with kids and a husband has taken some adjusting!"

Donna smirked at Rose’s slip, but let it go. For now.

"So? Spill! What happened next?"

"Nothing, really. We’re friends, Donna. Friends like we used to be. And I’m so glad for that. I don’t think I wanted to admit to myself how much I missed him - or how much I love him."

They were so engrossed in the story that neither woman noticed the Doctor and Eoghan’s return - so they didn’t see the mist in his eyes as he caught Rose’s final comments. They definitely didn’t hear his conspiratorial whisper in Eoghan’s ear as he set the boy down: “See that girl, Eoghan? I’m going to marry that girl.”

—

"Eoghan! Get your sorry arse in here and explain this mess!"

Seventeen days after she woke from her coma, and after  _much_  persuasion, Donna was released from hospital, and life at the McAvoy house returned largely to normal. Multiple casts and a back brace didn’t slow her down as much as they probably should have, and Donna’s poor home health aide, Molly, spent much of the day muttering “such  force of nature!” under her breath - when she wasn’t trying to force Donna back into bed.

Molly wasn’t around 24/7, though, and Donna couldn’t keep up with both kids, so while the Doctor and Rose weren’t needed full-time, they fell into a casual rotation of pickups, drop-offs and hand-overs, moving from the role of pseudo-parents back to that of close aunt and uncle - and casting them back into a casual friendship.

Donna saw how much the separation affected them, though, even if they didn’t.

"You miss it, don’t you? You’re not locked in here with your insta-family anymore, specifically with your insta-wife, your  _Rose,_ and you miss it.”

The Doctor gaped, fumbled for an excuse…and gave in. This was Donna, after all, and she was nothing if not direct - and persistent.

"Yeah. I do. We see each other in passing now, and there’s just…I thought we were on the road back to something. I really did. But now - I see her, and I miss her, and I don’t want to screw things up, so I fumble and stall and I just walk away. And she’s never once tried to stop me. I guess now that she doesn’t  _have_  to have me in her life, she doesn’t really want me in it.”

Donna’s conversation with Rose went much the same.

"He doesn’t want me, Donna. We did what we had to do to stay together for the kids, and now that we don’t need that anymore - well, he’s running. Just like always. Can’t get away from me fast enough when we do see each other. It’s awkward, and strange, and one of us is always pulling away. And I’m too raw, too scared, to be the one putting myself out there again."

She sighed and brushed her son’s fringe out of his face. (He’d decided to grow it long so that he could “have sticky-uppy hair like Uncle Doctor”.) “What are we going to do with those two, Eoghan?”

Her own grey eyes, wiser than their years, looked back at her from his small face. “I dunno, mum, but crying seems to work wonders.”

\--

_to be continued..._


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I consider re-titling this fic “As the McAvoys Wear Down the Stone”. Because seriously - they’re as tired of waiting for these yahoos to get it together as all of you are. ;)

"Uncle Doctor, can I ask you a question?"

Her Spaceman might be smart, but Donna was smarter - and she knew a good idea when she heard one…even if it meant scheming with her son to get her two best friends together. It only took a few hours - and two large mugs of hot cocoa - for them to put their plan into action.

Looking up from his spot on the floor, where he lounged, back against the couch, grading papers, the Doctor tilted his head toward Eoghan. “Of course, buddy. What’s up?”

"It’s kind of serious."

He set down his pen and the stack of papers and removed his glasses to give Eoghan his full attention, nodding at the boy to continue.

"I was just wondering…why aren’t you married yet?"

The Doctor sputtered. “What? What? Why…what makes you ask that?”

"Well, it’s just…" Eoghan laid it on thick, digging his toe into the carpet and putting on the worried face he’d practiced with his Mum in the kitchen the night before. "…in the hospital, the day Mum woke up, you said you were going to marry Rose. And that was weeks ago - practically a lifetime - and you’re still not married. Because you would have told me, or at least told Mum. And I’m always sad for you, because Mum has me and Leigh, but you don’t have anyone. And I don’t want you to be lonely, Doctor." He looked up, blinking crocodile tears from his eyes.

"Oh, Eoghan. If only it were that simple. Marriage is something special between two people - and it’s something they need to decide together. And Rose and I, well, it’s not something we’ve decided to do."

"But she wants to marry you. I know she does. Why won’t you marry her?" Eoghan sniffled.

"And how do you know that?"

"Promise you won’t tell Mum?"

The Doctor nodded sagely.

"I was playing spy - sneaking down the steps and behind the furniture, just like you showed me - one day during naptime, and I heard Rose and Mum talking about you."

The Doctor let out a quick puff of breath. “Now, Eoghan, we’ve talked about that, yeah? Eavesdropping is wrong. Mostly because you get me in trouble. Anyway…I have you, yeah? And your sister, and your mum. And Rose and I are good friends, too. You don’t need to worry about me, I promise. I promise.”

The smile he wore to reassure his small friend didn’t reach his eyes, though - and somewhere inside, the Doctor’s brain set to work on a singular problem: what if Eoghan was right?

–

The next day, after high-fiving her son for his brilliant performance, it was Donna’s turn to work her magic. She hobbled into the kitchen, where Rose was working at the table, and put the kettle on for tea.

"Rose?"

"Hey, Donna. How are you feeling?"

"Better. The doctor says that the cast will be off next week, and I can start physio."

"Great!"

"Yeah. Listen…I wanted to talk to you about something Eoghan said."

"Is he okay?" Rose looked up from her laptop with concern.

"He’s fine. Well, I think he will be. He’s worried about you, to be honest."

"Me? Why?"

Donna launched into her tale - how she’d found Eoghan crying, how he was so worried about her and the Doctor not being each other’s family any more, how he asked her to go back to the hospital to “save” Rose and the Doctor. When Rose interrupted with a “but, Donna–”, she swooped in for the killing blow.

"I know you think he doesn’t want you. I know you think he’s running away. But that day in the hospital? The day that I woke up? He told Eoghan he was going to marry you. He’s talking to my kid, Rose, about what he wants. The two of you better get yourselves together. Eoghan’s lost enough already. He doesn’t need the stress.”

A beat after the final note of her perfectly-timed speech, the kettle popped.

"Tea?"

Rose sat gawping at the back of Donna’s head as she fixed the tea. How dare the Doctor put that kind of weight on Eoghan? How dare he make promises to that poor kid that he had no intention of keeping?

Her anger spurred her into action. “Donna, I have to go.”

Rose was out the door, laptop and notes forgotten on the table, before Donna could blink.

"Hey, Eoghan," she called up the stairs, "I think we did it!"

–

_to be continued…_


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna’s comments to Rose have caused her to boil over, and she’s headed off to give a certain someone a piece of her mind…

Tucked away in his basement lab, the Doctor didn’t notice the pounding on his door several flights above. When he heard Rose’s voice, however, he jumped from his chair and bounded up the stairs.

"Doctor! I know you’re here. Answer the damn door. We need to talk!"

Winded from his climb, he let out a breathy “Rose?” as he came up behind her.

"There you are. Bloody hell, Doctor, what are you telling that kid? You think he needs this now, after all he’s been through? He’s just a kid!"

"Whoa. Whoa! Rose, I’m not sure what you’re after here." The Doctor reached out for her, but stopped himself and gestured at the door instead. "Can we go inside and sit down?"

He pushed open the door. “Please. Have a seat,” he said, gesturing at the sofa. “Now, what’s all this fuss? What’s wrong?”

Rose sat, but immediately jumped to her feet, pacing and yelling.

"You. You’re what’s wrong. You’re this huge whirlwind part of my life for so long, and then we can’t— and then we don’t— and then you’re just gone. I’m gone. We’re gone. And then Donna— and then we’re thrown back together, locked up tight in some cute little family unit, and I thought we were better, I thought we were getting somewhere, and I fell in love with you all over again because I believed that maybe this time was different. But then we’re not, and we’re back to formalities and passing like ships in the night. And I think I’m okay with that, at least for a while. And then you go tell Eoghan you’re going to marry me? And you put all that on him? So he’s worried about you, about me, about our life or lack thereof? And you say and do things like that, you act like we’re okay, like we mean something, and you talk about marriage like it’s even an option - like it would ever be an option with you - and then you just run away, you let me push you away, like none of it means anything at all. I can’t do this. You can’t do this. We can’t do this - to ourselves, to Donna, especially not to Eoghan. What the hell were you thinking, Doctor?"

He stood, and opened his mouth to speak, but she kept on going.

"And I hate this, you know? I hate that I love you this much, and that I loved every second of living with you, and playing family with you. I hate that I dream that we have our own family, that I spend the rest of my life with you, because I know you’d never spend the rest of your life with me. But I do. I love you. I love the smudges of soot on your nose when you’ve blown something up in your lab. I love the way you do all the voices every single time you read Eoghan a bedtime story. I love the way you take longer than anyone I’ve ever known to make your hair look perfect. I love that you can’t stand still, not for a moment, not in your entire life, not for anything. I love the way you raise your eyebrow at me when you’re looking at me like you think I’m mad. I love that after I hug you, I can smell you on my clothes for hours afterward, even if it smells like ozone or something equally weird. I love that you make my life more frustrating.

And it’s not because I’m lonely. And it’s not because of Eoghan. And it’s not because I’m angry. I’m here because I want you, Doctor. I want this story to begin and end with you. And because when I have big life-changing realisations like that, you’re the first and only person I want to share them with.

So go ahead. Do your worst. Tell me off. Run away. Just no more games. Please.”

Rose sat heavily down on the chair behind her, afraid to look him in the eye. The tips of his trainers slowly came into view, followed by his outstretched hand.

"Come with me? If you want?"

She looked up at him, confused, but took his hand and let him lead her to the basement.

"I was down here, working on something."

"Doctor, I don’t—"

"Rose, please. Let me finish." His voice was uncharacteristically soft and calm.

"I was down here today, working on something. Once I finished it, I was going to come see you. But since you’re here, I might as well show you."

He reached out over the workbench with his free hand and switched on a circular light. Rose could see from where she stood that the fluorescent circle framed a piece of glass - probably a magnifying device, if she knew the Doctor.

He pulled her toward the bench with the hand that still held hers. “Go on. Look.”

Coming to stand behind her, he pulled her hair back behind her shoulders to keep it out of the way, fastening it with a hair tie he pulled from one of his bottomless pockets. As she leaned in to look at his project through the lens, she felt his hands alight gently on her upper arms.

She gasped, but not from his touch.

Under the magnifying glass, held tightly in a small padded vice, sat a beautiful ring, its side turned upward, its stone facing out. Carved into the band, at least on the part that she could see - were swirling, circular patterns.

"They’re flight paths," he said quietly. The adventures you’ve had on your own, and ones I hope that we take together."

He reached under the glass, tracing a finger across the ring’s edge. “The Northern Lights. Tanzania. Peru. Egypt.” His hand slipped down, releasing the vice’s grip and catching the ring to turn it upright. “The stone is iolite. It changes color based on the angle that you view it from, and the angle that the light hits it. Years ago, sailors used it to navigate the waters, holding it up to the sun and the moon and the stars to help them find their way home.”

He pulled his hand out from under the light, ring clasped between his fingers, and turned her to face him.

"Rose, your adventures have made you who you are, just like mine have made me who I am. I want to live in a world where our adventures together make us who we are, together. You’re my shining star, my magic stone, always guiding me home. Will you promise me our forever, Rose Tyler, in front of everyone we love? Will you marry me?"

—

_to be concluded…_


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter of the final story in the John Hughes-esque _And So I Leave You_ ‘Verse!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowza. This is it! The last chapter in the last story in this ‘verse.
> 
> Massive love and tea cup toasts to [Ashley](http://helplesslynerdy.tumblr.com). Without her, nothing in this ‘verse would have existed - she talked me into writing Coats, listened to me wine and flail over the second two stories, and poked me until I rewrote bits that sucked. ASHLEY RULEZ YO.
> 
> I’m sadder than I thought I’d be to hit the end of this! But this story is definitely done. :)

"And that, little one, is how your Aunt Donna and cousin Eoghan are directly responsible for your existence."

Rose yawned from the doorway. “You know, if you keep telling her that story, she’ll be tired of it before she can say ‘shut up, Dad’.”

The Doctor looked up from his sleeping daughter’s face and gazed fondly at his wife. “Rose, love, what are you doing up this early? We don’t need to leave for another two hours.”

"Couldn’t sleep. Too excited. Are we all packed?"

"Yep. I’d just finished putting Charlotte’s bags by the door when she cried out. That should be everything. You sure you’re ready for this?"

 

"Overseas travel with a toddler? Air pressure, time changes, and nausea—"

"Oh, don’t worry. You and I don’t get airsick - I don’t see why the little one would."

Rose glanced at her daughter’s sleeping form before pulling her husband into the hallway and quietly shutting the door behind him.

"Not Charley, Doctor. Me. I’m—"

"You’re not sick, are you? We could always postpone. There are enough travel guides on Disney to last a few weeks longer until you write one - I’m sure your publisher will understand."

She smirked. It wasn’t often she had the upper hand - time to have some fun with his obliviousness.

"Oh, I don’t know about that. It’ll be winter soon, and vacation in the winter is no fun. And, well, it’ll be much more expensive in the spring."

Rose rolled her eyes at his raised eyebrow and turned to walk back to their bedroom.

"After all, by then there’ll be four of us: you, me, Charley…and the baby."

"You’re not?" His eyes lit up as he caught on, and he was running toward her squealing with joy before the word "yes" had a chance to leave her lips.

"Shhh!" she giggled, "you’ll wake Charley!"

"Yes, of course," he said, kissing her between each word. "We must be quiet - otherwise we won’t have time to celebrate properly."

—

Everyone knows the McAvoys. Donna, who never lost her sass and bluster, who’s still taking care of the universe, even after all she’s lost. Eoghan, whose protective streak shines a mile wide over those he considers family, and whose wicked intelligence and canny, manipulative ways make him a handful (and a match!) for his mother and his uncle. Leigh, who calms everyone around her with her soft demeanor, sweet eyes, and gentle stammer, so much like her father it hurts.

Everyone knows them. Everyone loves them. And everyone, in some small way, is a part of their story.

—

No one knows the Tyler-Smiths - not really. There’s the occasional by-line in a scientific publication for him, and many, many travel guides with her name on them - but those are just the bits they share with the public. In public, on the street, on the internet, they’re Doctor Smith (a proper doctor now) and Rose Tyler, prolific travel writer.

At home, they’re the Doctor and Rose and Charley and little Jamie, dreaming up adventures - even ones that will never happen. Together as a family, they conjure dinosaurs as pets, zero-gravity sports, trips to ancient Egypt and millions of years in the future. (He tells her, late at night in her ear, that the impossible ones are his favorite. Later, sweaty and spent, she tells him they’re hers, too.)

And every night, he tells Donna on one of their many dinner outings, the Doctor is thankful for the parts of him that the world doesn’t get to see. Because every night, after the house is silent and his family is long asleep, he checks on them all one last time before he closes his eyes. He kisses his son, his daughter, his wife.

"I dreamed of you," he whispers.


End file.
